Mitchell Robinson leaving in free agency was only the first hit for the Knicks. The bigger problem is what comes next: keeping a contender intact while trying to stay away from the second apron, where roster flexibility goes to die.
New York is already walking a tightrope. Karl-Anthony Towns and Josh Hart are extension-eligible right now, the Knicks are only $7.2 million under the second apron for next season, and they have just ten players under contract.
That’s before Jalen Brunson’s next deal really comes into focus. He has only two guaranteed years left, and after taking a discount to help build what was supposed to be a championship roster, JB is expected to want some of that money back.
If Brunson gets anywhere close to the max, the Knicks would likely have to move more pieces just to stay compliant.
That reality is why New York let Mitch Rob walk to the rival Boston Celtics and why Towns and Hart still haven’t been extended. The front office would love to keep the core together, but the second apron makes that far easier said than done.
Towns, in particular, sits at the center of the squeeze. He is eligible for a four-year, $272 million extension, a deal that would carry an average annual value of $68 million.
The Knicks can’t swing that. They can’t even really get to $60 million per year if they want to preserve the rest of the roster and stay under the second apron.
Towns can also become an unrestricted free agent in the summer of 2027, which puts pressure on New York to either extend him on its terms or trade him before his value gets stranded.
The timing matters even more now that Robinson is gone. New York brought in Andre Drummond to fill the center spot, and he was the best option available at the price point.
But he is still a downgrade. That puts more on Towns’ plate: rim protection, rebounding, and the offense he already brings.
It’s a heavy ask, and it comes with the added complication of trying to get him to accept less money.
There isn’t much room to upgrade at center without sacrificing one of the starters, which is why the Knicks need Towns if they want to stay in title contention.
Miles McBride looks like the next obvious casualty. He is set to be an unrestricted free agent in the summer of 2027 and is making under $4 million this season.
The 26-year-old just posted the best year of his career, and that usually means the next payday is the one that changes everything. He has earned $17.3 million across his first six seasons, and once he reaches the open market, he will be looking to make that in a single year.
The signs point to this being his final season with the team.
And even if New York manages to hold onto Towns and Hart, the math still gets ugly fast. Brunson, OG Anunoby, and Mikal Bridges are all locked in long term on big money.
Add Hart at $20 million and a discounted Towns, and the Knicks still blow past the second apron once Brunson’s extension hits. At that point, the current starting five has a shelf life of about two more years at most.
The second apron has already forced other contenders to tear things down and rebuild on the fly. The Celtics have dismantled their 2024 title roster, with Jaylen Brown, Jrue Holiday, Al Horford, Kristaps Porzingis, and Luke Kornet all gone.
They still have Jayson Tatum and Derrick White, but the supporting cast has changed. The 2025 champion Oklahoma City Thunder had to trade three role players this summer to avoid the same trap.
The Knicks are staring at that same kind of pain.
If New York wants the simplest path, it may come down to moving on from Hart and keeping the other four. In an ideal world, the Knicks would replace him with a difference-making draft pick. Sam Presti keeps doing that in OKC, and Leon Rose may try to copy the model.
Either way, Robinson’s departure was only the beginning. The Knicks are now trying to build around Brunson’s prime while every dollar counts and every roster choice carries consequences. The hard part is just getting started.
In Other News...
Knicks Have A Deuce McBride Decision That Could Loom Fast
The Knicks offseason business is not done, but one of the quieter questions on the roster has moved to the front burner. Deuce McBride established himself as a valuable rotation guard last season, averaging 12.0 points, 2.6 assists and 2.4 rebounds in 41 games, and his standing inside the organization has only grown as New York continues sorting out its future payroll and lineup decisions.
Stefan Bondy reported that the Knicks are unlikely to extend McBride, along with Karl-Anthony Towns and Josh Hart, before the season begins, which leaves McBride in a more fluid spot than a dependable bench piece usually prefers. New York is still weighing whether to treat him as part of the long-term core or keep him in play as a possible trade asset once the season gets rolling, a choice that could come into focus faster than expected. [Read more 🡒]
Knicks Just Got A Lot More Pressure On Karl-Anthony Towns
Victor Wembanyamas new deal in San Antonio landed at 25 percent of the salary cap, a notable decision because he could have chased the 30 percent supermax after making an All-NBA Team. For the Knicks, that kind of number matters far beyond the Spurs, because every major contract on the books shapes how much flexibility the front office has when it starts mapping out the next few seasons.
Karl-Anthony Towns now sits at the center of that math in New York. The Knicks may end up negotiating with a player who has plenty of leverage and a future payday in mind, even as the team tries to preserve room for other key pieces, and the cap squeeze around Towns is only getting harder to ignore. [Read more 🡒]
Former Knicks Champion Could Extend A Rare Streak In Philadelphia
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Jones arrives after back-to-back championships, first with Oklahoma City in 2025 and then with New York the following year, a rare kind of rsum for a player still looking to carve out his next opportunity. The question now is whether that momentum carries into Philly and whether his new situation can turn a brief stop into something that keeps the streak alive. [Read more 🡒]